Measuring global poverty before and during the pandemic: a political economy of overoptimism

Date

2021

Authors

Sumner, Andy
Ortiz-Juarez, Eduardo
Hoy, Christopher

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Abstract

The contribution of this paper is to question the ‘official’ estimates of global monetary poverty up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue there is a political economy of overoptimism in the measurement of global poverty. Specifically, we show that the methodological and presentational choices can lead to an over optimistic view of the levels of, and trends in, global poverty. We provide an up-to-date critique of the global poverty estimates and demonstrate how patterns of poverty would differ if small changes in methodology were implemented. We conclude with a theoretical discussion of why such methodological choices that lead to an optimistic view of global poverty levels and trends are made. Subsequently, we propose an alternative approach to global poverty measurement.

Description

Keywords

Global poverty, COVID-19, crisis, precarity

Citation

Source

Third World Quarterly

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

Open Access

License Rights

Creative Commons Attribution licence

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